Papa Del's StyleDeep Dish Pizza

Papa Del's is located on
Green Street in Urbana (Champaign), Illinois. In all of my pizza travels,
I have come to love Papa Del's original thick-crust sausage pizza. This
pizza is in a class of its own and cannot be compared to Chicago-Style
deep-dish pizza, which has a completely different type of crust.

This recipe was adapted
from a recipe by Pete Brooks. This pizza takes a long time to prepare,
about 4 hours, but is well worth the
effort! This recipe is a "work in progress" and is by no means complete.
It is, by far, the most authentic tasting Papa Del's recipe that I have
come across.

Please, if you try this
recipe and come up with improvements, take time to share with me.

Dough

In a heavy-duty mixer
(e.g., KitchenAid), add milk mixture. Slowly add flour until the dough
pulls away from the side of the bowl and forms a ball. Knead dough for
5-10 minutes. Cover and allow dough to rise for 2 hours. Punch down the
dough, knead briefly, and allow to rise and additional 2 hours until
approximately doubled in bulk.

Cheese

Assembly & Baking

Grease a 10" deep-dish
pizza pan. Roll the crust to fit the pan. The edges should come to the top
of the pan. Take the sliced cheese and layer it on the bottom. Take some
of the sauce and spread it on the cheese. Take more of the cheese and
spread a layer. Continue, but try to end up with mostly sauce on top. (The
cheese will overcook if it's exposed on top.)